02 September 2014, London, UK; Last night, Maldives received a prestigious award at the annual Condé Nast Traveller Reader’s Travel Awards held at the Ham Yard Hotel in London.

Acting High Commissioner Ahmed Shiaan was in attendance to collect the award in the ‘Favourite Islands Destination’ category, where Maldives saw off competition from the Greek Islands and Sicily for the top award. After accepting the award Acting High Commissioner Shiaan thanked the readers for voting Maldives.

The Condé Nast Traveller is one of the UK’s leading luxury travel magazines, and its Reader’s Travel Awards, which are voted for by Condé Nast Traveller readers, are some of the most widely respected in the travel industry. Among other notable winners on the night included Italy as favourite country, British Airways for long-haul holiday and Changi, Singapore as best airport.

Following the Maldives’ win, Minister of Tourism, Hon Ahmed Adeeb remarked: "The United Kingdom is one of our most important markets, and it is gratifying for Maldives to receive such a prestigious prize in the UK. This award is particularly sweet as it was the result of a public vote. The Maldives Marketing & Public Relations Cooperation, with the full support of the Maldives High Commission in London, has done a lot of work to promote the Maldives in the UK, and this award is fitting recognition for this hard work."

The UK travel market remains buoyant for the Maldives. So far over 51,000 British people have travelled to Maldives in 2014 – this represents an increase of 3.4 percent over the same period last year.